Doing What's Right
by Skillzyo
Summary: Puck knows he isn't the smartest guy in the school but even he knows he only has one chance to prove he can be a good father. He also knows Quinn's plans for Beth could ruin that chance for him. Spoilers for 3x02 "I Am Unicorn".


**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Glee.

**Author's Note:** My first attempt at a fic revolving around Puck and Quinn since I usually write Brittana. Hopefully this little drabble isn't completely awful (I like it well enough). This takes place after Quinn drops the bomb on Puck about her plans for Beth after the last Booty Camp scene in "I Am Unicorn". This is also posted on my tumblr (skillzyo) so if you see it there, don't fret; it isn't stolen. And for those of you reading Lets Be Unicorns Today, I will be working on it as soon as I can. Getting used to being back in school after a year and a half and also trying to get comfortable in a new house has been taking its toll on me.

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><p>"What the hell are you thinking, Quinn?" Puck's voice reverberated throughout the empty auditorium. The former cheerleader had tried to leave with everyone else after Booty Camp but he had beaten her to the doors, blocking off any chance she had at escape. "You can't just take Beth away from Ms. Corcoran. She's her mom."<p>

"No, Puck. _I'm_ her mom. Me. I carried her for nine months and I fought to bring her into this world. Not her," Quinn reminded him as she stepped into his personal space and tried to stare him down.

"You're her mother, not her mom. Get that through your head," he argued, returning her stare in full force. "Beth needs Shelby, not us." Quinn rolled her eyes at that statement and turned away from him, crossing her arms over her chest as she leisurely started down the stairs and headed back for the stage.

"You know, I remember a time when you practically begged me to keep her," she called over her shoulder just as she reached the last step. She wasn't surprised to see Puck still standing in front of the door, most likely guarding it in case she decided to bolt. "You were _so_ willing to give up everything to start a family with us," she mused in an almost mocking voice. When she reached the stage, she turned around and leaned against it; leaning against things had kind of become a habit for her while hanging out with The Skanks. "What changed?"

"I grew up."

Quinn raised an eyebrow at that statement. Puck didn't know how to grow up.

"Want to know what I think? I think you're just afraid of the responsibility of raising a child," she told him as she ran her right hand along the edge of the stage, trying to dispel some of the nervous energy that was coursing through her body. "It was so easy for you to pretend you loved the idea of having a family together when you knew I was giving her up for adoption. So easy for you to pretend you wanted to be a dad," she said with a short bark of laughter, dropping her gaze to the floor to hide the moisture building in her eyes. "But what do you do when I offer what you said you wanted? You run away."

"I'm not running away, Quinn. I'm manning up. Growing a pair. _Doing what's right_." She wasn't sure when Puck had come down the stairs but his voice was suddenly coming from right in front of her. She refused to meet the gaze she could now feel burning into the side of her head.

"So doing what's right is abandoning our daughter the way your dad abandoned you?" she asked and she could practically hear Puck's muscles bunching together at the statement because he was standing so close to her. She saw his hands ball into tight fists and she wondered for a moment if she had crossed a line. If she hadn't, she was about to. She raised her head once more and tilted it to the side. "I guess you really aren't any better than him, huh?"

Puck's arms shot out and, for a moment, Quinn's body tensed of it's own accord. Then he latched onto the edge of the stage instead of her, trapping her between his arms, but her body still didn't lose its tension. His breaths were quick and she could feel the warmth assaulting her cheeks. She heard his heart trying to beat out of his chest; as if it wanted to knock some sense into her since he wasn't willing to do it.

"Doing what's right is protecting her from you; from someone who wants to rip her out of a home where she can be provided for." Once again, Quinn refused to look him in the eyes, instead choosing to stare passed him at the 'Exit' sign above the door to the auditorium. His body shifted, however, and he ducked his head so his eyes were boring into hers.

"I love my daughter, Quinn. I will do anything to be a part of Beth's life even if I can't be the one actually raising her. And Ms. Corcoran is willing to give me that chance." His brown eyes softened as he talked about their daughter, a look Quinn hadn't seen personally since that night at the hospital when they had first given her up. He had looked at Beth as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen; as if just staring at her too hard would shatter his entire world.

"I've screwed up a lot in my life. I've been to Juvie, for crying out loud. But I am trying to be the man Beth deserves to have in her life instead of just the boy who donated the sperm," he said in an unwavering voice, as if he would gladly take those words to his grave with him. Then his eyes hardened once more and narrowed into a glare. "Don't screw this up for me, Fabray, and certainly don't screw it up for her."

Quinn opened her mouth but sound refused to come out. Realizing she looked like an idiot with her mouth hanging open, she clamped it shut. It was Puck's turn to raise an eyebrow at her apparent speechlessness before he turned away from her and started up the stairs. Quinn simply watched him leave, unable to come up with a proper response to his words.

He was not the boy who had knocked her up their sophomore year. He had grown into so much more and he was giving her the chance to do the same. Instead of taking that chance, however, she was trying to throw it out the window with every other good thing she had done in her life. Maybe she was the one who didn't know how to grow up, not Puck.

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><p>Author's Note: So that is pretty much the end of that. As of now, this is completed since it was only meant to be a one-shot. Maybe it will turn into more. Like I said though, right now this is pretty much completed. Puck being a father sparked some creativity in me and this was the outcome. Hopefully we get more moments like the ones in "I Am Unicorn" this season. :D Thanks to everyone who reviews.<p> 


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